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T O P I C R E V I E W

JasonB

Could someone please tell me which Apollo crews and astronauts the gold visor helmets were issued to? Was it just the moonwalkers, did the command module pilot get one too and were they issued before Apollo 11?

I seem to recall seeing David Scott wearing one on Apollo 9, too. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

onesmallstep

I seem to recall on this forum or in a book that only the CDR and LMP on moon landing flights got the helmet/gold visors. In fact, the CMPs on the J missions (15-17) had to 'borrow' one of their crewmates' helmet/visors for the deep-space EVAs to retrieve film from the CM SIM bay.

Apollo 9 was an exception because only Scott and Schweickart were scheduled for an EVA.

JasonB

Thanks for the info!

Headshot

Does anyone know if any of the gold visors were flown on second missions, i.e. were any recycled?

space1

The coating is susceptible to scratching, so I am sure they would not have been flown more than once. Neil Armstrong's visor at the Smithsonian has been scratched from having been opened and closed so many times over the years that curators are determined that it will never be opened again.

JasonB

On Apollo 11, Michael Collins didn't have or use a gold visored helmet did he? I assume he was just issued a clear visor one and had no reason to use the gold ones issued to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin but just wanted to make sure. Thanks.

Editor's note: Threads merged.

Michael Davis

Correct. The gold visors went only to the CDR and LMP.

You can actually see this in the individual Apollo 11 crew portraits. Collins has a standard visor and both Armstrong and Aldrin are fitted with the gold visor version.

Jim Behling

Technically Collins didn't have a visor. He only had a clear helmet, which Armstrong and Aldrin also had (see crew walkout on launch day). What Collins didn't have was a LEVA helmet assembly, which Armstrong and Aldrin attached to their helmet on orbit.

JasonB

Cool thanks for the info!

davidcwagner

In the 1980's, I was a bartender at an Air Force Officer's Club. An SR-71 pilot came in madder than hell because his suit tech had broken a gold visor. The pilot said the gold visor was a "hand me down" from Project Apollo. They were highly prized by SR-71 pilots because they were better than the newer acrylic gold visors. According to the pilot, the Apollo visors were quartz made by a one-man shop in California. Forming a visor out of quartz was this man's trade secret. The man died and took the secret with him according to the SR-71 pilot.

Any others ever here this story? Any data on how these quartz gold visors were made?

Kizzi

Here is good link discussing the physics of gold as a reflective material for space helmet visors.

Towards the end, it makes a couple of interesting points.

The gold will give a green/blue hue to objects viewed through the visor. Perhaps the moon appeared to be made of Stilton?

Gold is good at reflecting IR wavelengths (heat) but poor at reflecting UV. Fortunately, poly-carbonate is good at absorbing UV. Which made me remember from my physics lab days using a UV lamp. Quartz doesn't absorb UV at all. So it's unlikely the visors would have been made of that.